Since the announcement of the iPhone lo those many months ago, word of myriad surveys, studies, and analyst opinions has reached the web. Apple is supposedly targeting enterprise users, a Microsoft executive thinks it lacks the necessary features for business users, we’ve also all heard the doubts, with many saying the iPhone is simply too expensive, while one survey showed 25-percent of teens were willing to pony up the dough. With a phone that’s supposedly going after business users, yet winning over teens, all the while being branded as too expensive–despite the seeming eagerness of the public to unleash a hail of credit cards–who exactly is Apple hoping to sell the iPhone too?

One place to gauge Apple’s target consumer is to look at the advertising. While we only have one ad for the iPhone so far, and it’s reasonable to assume that AT&T/Cingular will be responsible for some iPhone marketing of their own, even that single commercial made famous on Oscar night is illustrative: Apple wants to sell this thing to everyone. Whether it’s the Get a Mac commercials, Apple TV, or iPod silhouettes, you’re essentially never going to see any technical specifications in Apple marketing. The day Apple advertises Exchange support is the day they merge with Microsoft. Apple doesn’t want people thinking this phone is for the young, the wealthy, or the corporate, they just want people thinking they have to have it.

This type of marketing is what drives geek partisans crazy. Whether it’s the iPod, AirPort, Cinema Displays, or Apple computers themselves, there are lots of people who just can’t understand why people are paying a premium for an Apple product that doesn’t stack up in the specs and price. Some silhouettes and pop songs can go a long way, though, as evidenced by the fact that every human on earth now owns three iPods. The marketing makes us want a product we didn’t even know we were missing from our lives. Apple will certainly sell some iPhones to the business crowd, but they’re not going to capture those hardcore smartphone users who need their phone to essentially be a mini-PC.

We know Apple has lofty sales goals for the iPhone, hoping to sell 10 million by the end of 2008. The smartphone market, though, is not a large one, and many of the existing smartphone owners are likely to be utilitarian in their tastes, not eager to adopt something because it’s shiny and new when their business depends on it. The good news is that there are millions of other people who are going to buy the iPhone. As evidenced by the stats on teenagers’ interest in the product, a $500 price tag isn’t as off-putting as some think. Considering what people spend on an iPod, camera, phone, the iPhone seems downright reasonable, and you’ll get to shelve that fanny pack you were using to haul around your gear. That’s the pitch that Apple needs to make: this is paying a little extra to get all your gadgets in one sexy package.

Apple doesn’t need a demographic when they have something that’s so broadly appealing that teenagers, college kids, and adults will all want it. To paraphrase the words of an Apple executive, you don’t have to look and see what the market for a great product is–you make a great product, the market creates itself.

Filed under: iPhone News, Opinion